Our council scout camp just got cancelled due to the national forest being closed. (Coronado NF, if anyone is interested. Apache NF is closed as well.) They are not setting up an alternate location–they are going to refund camp fees and/or help the units look for another camp.

Rumor has it that Tonto NF may be closing as well, which is where the next-nearest scout camp is located (Geronimo). The next one after that is Raymond, and then the next closest one is in California (Mataguay). This poses a problem for our unit–we were planning on having leaders rotate in during the week–which is easy to do when camp is an hour away. When it's 4 hours to Geronimo or 7 hours to Mataguay that doesn't work nearly as easily.  So, the unit is still working out plans for what to do as far as camp goes.

So..I had another idea.  I have a nephew who is only a few months older than my son, who lives in Utah. He's in an LDS unit up there and they are going to 11 year old camp. Could my son attend with him? 

First–can he go to another council's camp with their unit(s)? or would he only be able to go during provisional troop camp?

Second–11 yo camp still does "trail to first class", but would it be similar enough to "count" down here in our council? I'm guessing there aren't huge differences but I don't know.

Third–my son will only be 10 still (Barely, he reminds me. He turns 11 in mid-July). Would this cause any kind of additional logistical problem?

Thanks for any input, we are obviously still working through these issues!

Thanks for your help guys–but we ended up not needing it. They rescheduled at a different camp (6 hours away instead of 1 hour) that wasn't closed due to fire danger. Our troop had a smaller contingent, probably–but they had a good experience out there. My son was really homesick the first 2 nights but improved as the week went on.

I went up Friday (camp ended Saturday) and stayed over to help haul kids/stuff home since one of the leaders had to leave earlier in the week. I got the grand tour and he was very excited to show me what he'd been working on. He finished most of 2 ranks except for Board of Review, earned 3 or 4 merit badges and got to shoot rifles.

My nephew wasn't that impressed with 11-year-old camp. Turns out it was daycamp for the first 2 days with an overnighter at the end. Yes, they did work on their trail to first class and a couple of merit badges but he was somewhat envious of my son's experience (especially since he wasn't even 11 when he got to go).

So, I think it all worked out for the best. It might be fun for them to go to camp together when they're a little older though–maybe my nephew could come down here instead!